The Birmingham riot of 1963 was a civil disorder and riot in Birmingham, Alabama, that was provoked by bombings on the night of May 11, 1963. The bombings targeted African-American leaders of the Birmingham campaign. In response, local African-Americans burned businesses and fought police throughout the downtown area.
The places bombed were the parsonage of Rev. A. D. King, brother of Martin Luther King Jr., and a motel owned by A. G. Gaston, where King and others organizing the campaign had stayed. It is believed that the bombings were carried out by members of the Ku Klux Klan, in cooperation with Birmingham police. Civil rights protesters were frustrated with local police complicity with the perpetrators of the bombings, and grew frustrated at the non-violence strategy directed by King. Initially starting as a protest, violence escalated following local police intervention. The federal government intervened with federal troops for the first time to control violence during a largely African-American riot. It was also a rare instance of domestic military deployment independent of enforcing a court injunction, an action which was considered controversial by Governor George Wallace and other Alabama whites. The African-American response was a pivotal event that contributed to President Kennedy's decision to propose a major civil rights bill. It was ultimately passed under President Lyndon B. Johnson as the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
Background On May 10, 1963, negotiators for the city, local businesses, and the civil rights campaign had completed and announced the "Birmingham Truce Agreement". The agreement included city and business commitments for partial desegregation (of fitting rooms, water fountains, and lunch counters in retail stores), promises of economic advancement for African-American workers, release of persons who had been arrested in demonstrations, and the formation of a Committee on Racial Problems and Employment. In an afternoon press conference held at the Gaston Motel, where King and his team were staying, Rev. Fred Shuttlesworth read a version of the agreement, after which King declared a "great victory" and prepared to leave town.Bernstein, Promises Kept (1991), p. 92. However, some white leaders, including the city's powerful Commissioner of Public Safety Bull Connor, who had used dogs and fire hoses against demonstrators, denounced the agreement and suggested that they might not enforce its provisions.Bernstein, Promises Kept (1991), pp. 92–93.
Preparations On the morning of May 11, 1963, state troopers were withdrawing from Birmingham under orders from Governor George Wallace. Investigator Ben Allen had been alerted about a potential bombing of the Gaston Motel by a source within the Klan and recommended that these troops stay for a few more days. Allen's warning was disregarded by state Public Safety Director Al Lingo, who said he could "take care of" the Klan threat.Diane McWhorter, Carry Me Home (2001), p. 424. "By daybreak on Saturday, May 11, Governor Wallace's army of state troopers had pulled out of Birmingham. State investigator Ben Allen had argued for staying through the weekend. A reliable Klan informant had told him that the Gaston Motel was going to be bombed. "Colonel" Al Lingo, Wallace's public safety director, brushed aside Allen's concerns, saying that he could "take care of" the Klan leader. It wasn't clear whether he meant that he would, or merely could, call off the bombing." Martin Luther King Jr., left Birmingham for Atlanta.McWhorter, Carry Me Home (2001), p. 425.
Also during the day on May 11, Klan leaders from across the South were assembling in nearby Bessemer, Alabama for a rally. Klan Imperial Wizard Robert Shelton addressed the white crowd, urging rejection of "any concessions or demands from any of the atheist so-called ministers of the nigger race or any other group here in Birmingham." He also said that "Klansmen would be willing to give their lives if necessary to protect segregation in Alabama."May, The Informant (2005), p. 70. The crowd was, reportedly, unenthusiastic, as they were demoralized by the momentum toward desegregation.McWhorter, Carry Me Home (2001), pp. 425–426. "Shelton's inability to rev up this family crowd was perhaps the truest reflection of the sea change that had been inspired by Birmingham that week. In the growing consensus that segregation had to go, the Klan was losing its mainstream appeal and shrinking into a purely terrorist cell." The rally ended at 10:15 pm.McWhorter, Carry Me Home (2001), p. 427.
At 8:08 p.m. that evening, the Gaston Motel received a death threat against King,
Bombings At around 10:30 p.m., a number of Birmingham police departed the parking lot of the Holy Family Hospital, driving toward the home of Martin Luther King's brother, A. D. King, in the Ensley neighborhood. Some police traveled in an unmarked car.McWhorter, Carry Me Home (2001), p. 427. "At Holy Family Hospital in Ensley, a few miles from where the Klan rally had ended at around 10:15, the Alabama Christian Movement's Carter Gaston was keeping vigil over Shuttlesworth. Sometime between 10:30 and 11, Sister Marie, the nurse who had developed a proprietary attitude toward her patient's Movement, motioned Gaston and said, 'Watch this.' Three carloads of police were in the parking lot. Some officers got out of their cruisers and headed in the direction of A. D. King's house a few blocks away.
A. D. King residence At about 10:45 p.m., a uniformed officer got out of his police car and placed a package near A. D. King's front porch. The officer returned to the car. As he drove away, the officer threw an object out of the car's window. The object landed two to three feet from the sidewalk, where it caused a small but loud explosion and knocked over bystander Roosevelt Tatum.Ben Greenberg, "From Delmar to Bombingham (5) — THE BOMBING", Hungry Blues, 28 June 2004.
Tatum got up and moved toward the King house—only to face another, larger, blast from the package near the porch. This explosion destroyed the front of the house. Tatum survived and ran toward the back of the house, where he found A. D. King and his wife Naomi trying to escape with their five children.
Tatum told King that he had seen police deliver the bombs. King called the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), demanding action against the local police department.McWhorter, Carry Me Home (2001), p. 428. "Inside the bombed house, among the indignant well-wishers, Roosevelt Tatum told A. D. King what he had seen before the explosions. King called the FBI. It seemed that, at long last, the bureau might get around to investigating a bombing in Birmingham."
Gaston Motel
At 11:58 p.m., a bomb thrown from a moving car detonated immediately beneath Room 30 at the Gaston Motel—the room where Martin Luther King had been staying. The Gaston Motel was owned by A. G. Gaston, an African-American businessman who often provided resources to assist the Alabama Christian Movement for Human Rights. Attorney and activist Orzell Billingsley had intended to sleep in Room 30 because he was exhausted from days of negotiation and his wife was throwing a party at the couple's house. However, he was so tired that he fell asleep at home after stopping there for clothes.McWhorter, Carry Me Home (2001), p. 429.
The motel bomb could be heard all over town. It interrupted the singing of children in the juvenile detention center, most of whom had been arrested during the civil rights demonstrations. Next, the children heard the sound of white men repeatedly singing "Dixie" over the jail's loudspeakers.
Bryan McFall of the FBI was expecting his Klan informant Gary Rowe to report at 10:30 p.m., immediately after the end of the Klan rally.McWhorter, Carry Me Home (2001), p. 428. McFall searched in vain for Rowe until finding him at 3:00 a.m. in the VFW Hall near the Gaston Motel. Rowe told McFall, his FBI handler, that Black Muslims had perpetrated a false flag bombing in order to blame the Klan. McFall was unconvinced.May, The Informant (2005), p. 71. However, in submitting his final report to J. Edgar Hoover, head of the FBI, McFall did not identify the Klan as potentially responsible for the bombing, nor did he question the credibility of Rowe as an informant.May, The Informant (2005), p. 73. "If Byron McFall suspected that Rowe was involved, he kept his doubts to himself. In a report written for the special agent in charge, McFall did note that Rowe was unreachable for several hours but described his excuse without comment. The later report that went to Washington never even mentioned the missing informant and, in fact, accepted Rowe's version of events. The Klan, J. Edgar hoover was told, was not responsible for the bombings on May 11, 1963. And nine days later, McFall submitted an evaluation in which he rated the informant 'EXCELLENT'. Once again, the FBI decided to protect its informant rather than investigate whether he had broken the law."
Contemporary historians widely believe that the bombing was carried out by four Klan members, including Gary Rowe and known bomber Bill Holt.May, The Informant (2005), p. 72. Rowe was already suspected by the Klan to be a government informant, and other members may have compelled him to assist with the bombing in order to test his fidelity to the white supremacy cause.
Unrest Many African-American witnesses held police accountable for the bombing of the King house, and immediately began to express their anger. Some began to sing "We Shall Overcome", while others began to throw rocks and other small objects.McWhorter, Carry Me Home (2001), pp. 427–428. More people mobilized after the second blast. As it was Saturday night, many had been celebrating the agreement that had been reached and had been drinking. Many of them were already frustrated with the strategy of nonviolence as espoused by Martin Luther King and his Southern Christian Leadership Conference and turned to violence. Three African-American men knifed white police officer J. N. Spivey in the ribs.McWhorter, Carry Me Home (2001), p. 430.
Several reporters who had been drinking at the bar got into a shared rental car and headed toward the commotion. A crowd of about 2,500 people had formed and was blocking police cars and fire trucks from the Gaston Motel area.McWhorter, Carry Me Home (2001), p. 431. A fire that started at an Italian grocery store spread to the whole block. As traffic started to move, Birmingham Police drove their six-wheeled armored vehicle down the street, spraying tear gas.McWhorter, Carry Me Home (2001), p. 432. An unexplained U.S. Army tank also appeared.McWhorter, Carry Me Home (2001), p. 433.
At 2:30 a.m., a large battalion of state troopers, commanded by Al Lingo and armed with submachine guns, arrived on the scene. About 100 were mounted on horses. These troops menaced any African-Americans remaining in the street, as well as the white journalists, who were forced into the lobby of the motel. Hospitals treated more than 50 wounded people.Bernstein, Promises Kept (1991), p. 93.
The white journalists and a group of blacks were sequestered in the bombed motel (with no food or water) until morning.McWhorter, Carry Me Home (2001), p. 437. Heavily armed forces continued to patrol the streets, "giving this industrial city..." (in the words of one newspaper report) "the appearance of a city under siege on this Mother's Day." "Riots Erupt in Birmingham: JFK Sends Troops to State: Thousands Clash After Bombings: Blasts Rip Home of Negro Motel; Nearly 50 Hurt", Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, 13 May 1963.
Operation Oak Tree